Council approves marijuana moratorium

FINDLAY — Findlay City Council voted 9-1 Tuesday in regular session to enact a moratorium on recreational marijuana, but there is some support among city leaders for its eventual availability in the city. The legislation places a 12-month moratorium on the cultivation, processing or dispensing of recreational marijuana within city limits. City officials say the stay is needed to work out the zoning rules for these businesses. The legislation included emergency language, which eliminates a 30-day stay on legislation approved by council and preempts any effort to overturn the decision by citizens' referendum. There has been no organized public opposition to the moratorium. Councilman Jim Niemeyer, R-6, voted against it. State law gives the legislative authority of a municipal corporation and township trustees the authority to "prohibit or limit the number of adult-use cannabis operators" permitted within the municipality or in the unincorporated territory of a township. Most townships in Hancock County have enacted moratoriums on recreational marijuana. Findlay placed a two-year moratorium on the cultivation, processing or dispensing of medical marijuana within city limits shortly after Ohioans voted to make it legal in 2016, with council later voting to prohibit it altogether. However, according to Councilman Grant Russel, R-at-large, that action of council may have been mute. Russel said it's the state's decision where medical dispensaries are located, and Hancock County was not issued a permit for one. The same is now holding for recreational marijuana, with the state still relying on the rules for medical use. Russel said for now, only counties with medical dispensaries will receive licensing for recreational use. Ohio voters approved the legal use of recreational marijuana in the November 2023 general election. Russel said he opposes recreational marijuana, but 52% of Findlay voters favored it. Russel said if the state changes the rules, the city must have the proper zoning in place to proceed with allowing recreational marijuana businesses to enter the city. "I hope by the time we get the rules from the Ohio Legislature, have our rules in place," he said. Russel said the city's moratorium does not prevent the cultivation of marijuana in private residences for private use. He said that became legal in November with the passage of the ballot issue. He said he hopes the city will move through the zoning process with "very little delay." Councilman Jeff Wobser, R-at-large, expressed similar support. Wobser said he supports the moratorium, but residents did vote in favor of recreational marijuana, and the city needs to "get it done and get it done in the right way." Mayor Christina Muryn estimated it will take about six months to establish the city's zoning rules. Muryn said Ohio lawmakers also have not set the rules for how recreational marijuana will be taxed in the state or how those taxes will be distributed. She said it is still illegal in Ohio to smoke marijuana "on the streets."